Turkey’s aviation authorities abruptly closed the country’s airspace to the FlyOneArmenia airline and reneged its permission for the airline to operate flights to and from Europe through Turkey’s airspace.
“For reasons that we cannot comprehend and without any obvious grounds, the Turkish aviation authorities canceled the permission previously granted to FlyOne Armenia airlines to operate flights to Europe through the Turkish airspace. Turkish aviation authorities implemented the cancellation without prior notification, putting our airline and our passengers in an uncomfortable situation,” Aram Ananyan, the chairman of FlyOne’s board of directors said in a statement on Saturday.
FlyOne was granted permission to operate flights through Turkey’s airspace when regular flights began operations to and from Armenia and Istanbul as part of efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey. Turkey later granted FlyOne the ability to operate flights out of Turkey to various European destinations.
Ananyan later announced that his company had already ensured the return of passengers on the Paris-Yerevan flight, explaining that the aircraft landed in Moldova’s capital, Chișinău from where it traveled to Yerevan.
The airline has not provided updates since the restriction was placed by Turkey on Saturday. Ananyan has simply said that it will keep travelers informed of further developments.
